Despite comprising over half of the biodiversity living venomous vertebrates, fish venoms are comparatively understudied. Venom from lesser weever ( Echiichthys vipera syn. Trachinus ) has received only cursory attention despite containing one most potent venom toxins (trachinine). Literature records further complicated by early studies combining with that related greater draco ). The current s...

Article type: Original article Objective(s): Echis carinatus is one of the venomous snakes in Iran. The venom of Iranian Echis carinatus is a rich source of protein with various factors affecting the plasma protein and blood coagulation factor. Some of these proteins exhibit types of enzymatic activities. However, other items are proteins with no enzymatic activity. Materials and Methods: In or...

The intracellular transport of venom proteins has been studied in active and resting venom glands of the snake Vipera palaestinae by electron microscope radioautography after an intra-arterial injection of [3H]leucine. In the active gland, most of the label is initially (10 min) found over the RER. By 30 min, the relative grain density of the Golgi complex reaches its maximum, with concomitant ...

The mechanisms by which antivenom neutralizes the venom are still poorly understood. In the present work, we studied the effects of antivenom, constituted with either F(ab9)2 or Fab, on the processes of absorption and elimination of Vipera aspis venom in experimentally envenomed rabbits. We first concluded from this study that during the few hours after intramuscular injection, the venom rapidl...

The present study compares the blood-serum proteins of populations of the Levantine viper, Macrovipera lebetina L. from Cyprus and southern Anatolia by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and densitometry analysis methods. There were discernible differences found between the two populations for the blood serum protein features compared. By considering these differences, it is concluded that the ...

We investigated the balance of free radicals in different tissues (liver, heart, brain and muscle) of rats in course of in vivo and in vitro processing by Macrovipera lebetina obtusa (MLO) and Montivipera raddei (MR) snake venoms. Chemiluminescence (ChL) levels were examined in tissue assays after incubation (at 37 ̊C for a period of 10 min) with venom for in vitro experiments and in tissue assa...

A haemorrhagic toxin (VRR-12) from Vipera russelli russelli (Russell's viper) venom has been purified by ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Sephadex C-50 followed by size-exclusion HPLC to electrophoretically homogeneous state. It is a 12 kDa single polypeptide having 1 mole of Zn+2 ion. This toxin induces intense intestinal haemorrhage and to a lesser extent skeletal muscle haemorrhage in mice....

A combination of narrow range isoelectric focusing, electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel, and gel exclusion on Sephadex reveals the presence of at least 9, possibly 11 isoenzymes of phospholipase A in Naja naja (cobra) venom. Their isoelectric points range from pH 4.60 to 5.66 and their molecular weights from 8,500 to 20,200. The most abundant form (isoelectric point = pH 4.95) has been isolat...

Phospholipases A2 represent the most abundant family of snake venom proteins. They manifest an array of biological activities, which is constantly expanding. We have recently shown that a protein bitanarin, isolated from the venom of the puff adder Bitis arietans and possessing high phospholipolytic activity, interacts with different types of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and with the acety...

A combination of narrow range isoelectric focusing, electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel, and gel exclusion on Sephadex reveals the presence of at least 9, possibly 11 isoenzymes of phospholipase A in Naja naja (cobra) venom. Their isoelectric points range from pH 4.60 to 5.66 and their molecular weights from 8,500 to 20,200. The most abundant form (isoelectric point = pH 4.95) has been isolat...